Thursday, May 26, 2016

Hibernation Is Over:The Old Dinosaur Returns

Hibernation Is Over:The Old Dinosaur Returns

The past year and a half have brought a series of
events so daunting that I could not overcome the distractions sufficiently to
concentrate on writing. Now, the positives include being on the threshold of
returning to my part time job. This is very good since the negatives include
having arrived at a state of meager subsistence.

In November of 2014, my paid-for car legally parked at
the curb was totaled by a hit and run driver. The insurance settlement was
inadequate to replace my car and attempts to bring it up to Pennsylvania
Enhanced Inspection standards failed even after substantial spending on
repairs. I found another car but incurred several years of car payments in the
process.

About the same time another tenant in my building
brought bedbugs home from somewhere. He said nothing and did nothing for more
than four months and by the time I figured out where the marks on my linens
were coming from, the building was infested. The landlord, presumably ignorant
about the scourge these vermin present, was slow to engage a professional
exterminator. In fact, it wasn’t until the day before the city’s deadline to
condemn the building that he got a reprieve from the city by hiring an
exterminator.

Their first treatment was to heat the whole house to a
sustained temperature above 120 degrees. This killed 98 percent of them. They
followed up with chemical treatments every two weeks for two and a half months.
Now I can happily say the bedbugs are gone. But the disruption is still somewhat
ongoing. It’s like having to move multiple times for treatment access and to
remove target nest sites. Now I’m moving in again without ever having moved out
– bags and boxes to unpack to return things to where they were before.

The reason for my lay off was the company’s fear I
might bring uninvited “guests” to work with me and risk sharing them with
co-workers. I will be talking with the company and hope they clear me to return
after the Memorial Day weekend.

While enduring this whole traumatic event I once said
I wouldn’t wish bedbugs on my worst enemy. After thinking about that for a
while I decided I would, indeed, wish them on my enemies. But then, everybody’s
safe because if I have enemies I don’t know who they are.